First of all, sorry for the lack of posts! I got blogged down. (A new word??) We're taking over the lease of the lady we've been subleasing from and soon half of the things in our apartment will be gone (her stuff). One of the things needing to be replaced is this kitchen cart of hers as we lack counterspace in our kitchen. This is where the story of my first time buying something off Craigslist begins...
I found this kitchen cabinet last night for $25 dollars. What a great deal! I called the seller and she said I could pick it up in the morning at 11, but that she lives above a pet shop with no buzzer so I'll have to call her cell phone when I arrive.
So this morning I head up there and park outside of the pet shop on busy Irving Park Rd. I call her cell but she doesn't answer. The pet shop was closed (and looked like it had been for many years) and it was starting to sprinkle so I was like, "Great, now what?"
Just then I heard the door that led up to her apartment open so I walked up to greet her. But instead I was greeted with a dead body inside a body bag! Two grim looking men pushed past me holding the stretcher and in an effort to conceal my shock I turned my head towards the other side of the street where I saw two young Mexican boys giggling in amazement at what they were witnessing.
They put the body in the back of a van and drove off quickly. I tried calling the woman's cell phone again but she still wasn't answering. That wasn't her in the body bag, was it??
I sat inside my car and called Dave at work because I had to tell somebody what just happened plus it was starting to get really rainy. In the middle of us both laughing at the absurdity of the situation the door opened again so I got off the phone and there in the doorway was a young woman with her daughter and I could see a few other people standing out in the hallway. She was the lady I was looking for.
"Did something, uh, bad just happen?" I said.
"Oh. Yeah. My grandma just died," she replied.
What a relief, strangely. Her grandma was 86. Quickly we became comfortable with each other and I told her what happened, about her not picking up her phone and the body bag and my assumptions. She thought it was hilarious.
"It'd be even more hilarious if this was your first time buying something off of Craigslist."
"Actually...it is."
Anyway, it's a really nice kitchen cabinet. Should be great for all our doodads...and for storytelling!
